Integrating Regional Equitable Transition into China’s Pursuit of Carbon Neutrality and Air Quality Goals

Geographically vast countries worldwide face the challenge of balancing equity concerns while combating climate change and environmental pollution. China's pursuit of carbon neutrality and air quality goals should ideally promote the convergence of both national mitigation targets and regional equitable transition, but the two are rarely considered together. Here, we develop an environmentally extended multiregional input-output model for China, which covers multiple environmental impacts for three benchmark years, to investigate the performance of national CO₂ and air pollutant reductions and the evolution of regional inequality. We present the realistic evidence that regional inequalities have worsened alongside China's accelerating transition toward low-carbon and clean-air goals. International and interregional supply chains have jointly exacerbated the uneven distribution of economic benefits and environmental burdens, trapping the Northwest region, such as Xinjiang and Ningxia, in a lose-lose situation. Production efficiency improvement and consumption structure optimization can be promising ways to synergistically achieve national emission reductions and regional inequality alleviation, with the East Coast region (Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu) currently leading these ways. We advocate incorporating regional equitable transition into policy-making for CO₂ and air pollutants coabatement, which will facilitate an inclusive green and clean development for China and other countries facing similar challenges.